CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren says President Barack Obama is a fighter for the middle class. And she slams his Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as someone who wants to cut taxes for the rich and big corporations.

Warren is making the comments in speech excerpts released ahead of her prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.

Warren says that for years America's middle class "has been chipped, squeezed and hammered."

Obama "gets it," Warren says, because he's spent his life working for the middle class. She says he will continue to do so.